Tuesday July 20 - ARRIVAL DAY

From Dubai to Dar es Salaam I sat with Amelie (Canada). While taking off we were able to see the worlds tallest building and some of the other crazy architecture of Dubai. I spent most of the 5 hour flight playing video games and sleeping.

3:20 pm: Arive in Dar es Salaam.

Though customs was slow, we had no issues getting into the country. Mostly we just had to wait for everyone to exchange money.

6:45 pm: Settle into lodgings (Landmark Hotel)

7:00 pm: Dinner and brief orientation

Deana, our new coordinator (from UC Davis Wildlife Health Center and California Fish and Wildlife) introduced herself and gave us a rundown of what we can expect to do while in Tanzania. It should be a great 3 weeks!

Monday, July 19

2:00 AM: Departure for West Palm Beach Airport en route to Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.

We woke up and quickly loaded into our vans to head to the West Palm Beach Airport. I was the only student to ride with Val and it was a great opportunity to bond with the trip leader.

Our first flight was from to JFK and I slept for the entire flight. As soon as we landed we had to retrieve our luggage, change terminals, and re-check in on Emirates Airlines. Sadly, Thalita’s (Brazil) bag never made it!

We had very little time at JFK before we had to jump on a plane to Dubai for 12 hours. For this flight I sat next to Nicole (Florida) and watched movies while getting some sleep. I watched Date Movie, Invictus, Temple Grandon, and Crazy Heart.

Monday, July 19 - ??

We are leaving for Tanzania this morning. Im not sure when I will have internet but I will continue the blog on my computer and post when I can!

Sunday, July 18

8:00 – 9:00 AM: Global Research and Conservation Programs at the Georgia Aquarium.

Presenter: Dr. Bossart.

9:00 AM – 11 AM: Manatees: Threats and Management. An inside look at pathologic and forensic investigations, and a discussion on how findings influence management decisions.

Presenter: Dr. Martine de Wit, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Marine Mammal Pathobiology Laboratory, St. Petersburg, Florida.

11 AM -- Noon: Early Lunch.

Noon – 3:00 PM: Necropsy Lab. Examination of a Range of Species of Marine Mammals that Died in the Field due to a Wide Array of Stressors. (Marine Mammal Necropsy Facility).

Instructors: Drs. Bossart, Martineau, de Wit, and Goldstein, with the HBOI Marine Mammal Group.

We were given the opportunity to perform necropsies on a pygmy sperm whale, bottle nose dolphin, manatee, sea otter, and sea lion. I spent most of my time working on the whale. It was hot and stinky but a lot of fun. We have been asked not to post any pictures for PR reasons…

3:00 – 5:00 PM: Post Office Trip for Shipping things home.

5:00 – 5:30 PM: Aquatic Unit Wrap up Discussion

5:30 – 6:00 PM: **** Finish and Turn in Course Evaluations!!! ****

6:00 – 7:00 PM: Barbeque Dinner.

We had a great dinner complete with lots of singing and dancing by people from all over the world. Nicole’s parents were super nice and donated a case of fancy beer to the party. Needless to say, it was a great time!

Evening: The remainder of the evening was spent packing up and preparing for our trip to Tanzania!

Saturday, July 17

8:00 – 9:00 AM: Bottlenose Dolphin Health Assessment Project.

Presenter: Dr. Gregory Bossart, Georgia Aquarium. Atlanta, Georgia and HBOI.

Dr. Bossart may be the most well-known marine mammal veterinarian in the country. He has an incredible amount of knowledge and it was a pleasure to listen to him lecture.

9:00 – 10:00 AM: Emerging Diseases of Marine Mammals.

Presenter: Dr. Bossart.

10:00 AM – Noon: Toxicology and Pathology of Beluga Whales in the St. Lawrence Estuary.

Presenter: Dr. Martineau.

Noon – 1:00 PM: Lunch

1:00 – 3:00 PM: Monitoring Arctic Marine Mammal Health. Working with Subsistence Cultures and Federal Agencies. Heavy Metals and Organohalogen Contaminants in Marine Mammals.

Presenter: Dr. Todd O’Hara, Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, Alaska.

O’Hara is based in Alaska and presented his topic over speakerphone. It was an strange but interesting lecture.

3:00 – 5:00 PM: Manatees and Marine Mammal Conservation Medicine.

Presenter: Dr. Bossart.

As if they knew what we were studying, a group of about 6 manatees entered the harbor outside of our classroom as the lecture was completed. Many of us went to watch them frolic in the water.

5:00 – 6:00 PM: Dinner.

Evening: I made a trip to the Laundromat to wash all of my clothes. While there I played some Mortal Kombat with a few of my fellow envirovets…By the time we got back most of the other students were already asleep.

Friday, July 16

8:00 – 10:00 AM: Avian Influenza Workshop.

Presenter: Dr. Brown.

10:00 – 10:30 PM: Flamingo Die-offs in East Africa.

Presenter: Dr. Beasley.

10:30 AM – 1:00 PM: Avian Necropsy Laboratory. Examination of a range of bird species that died in the field due to a wide array of stressors.

Instructors: Drs. Brown, Martineau, Spalding, Allender, Friend, and Beasley.

Each student received his or her own bird. I got some sort of tern (not that exciting) but made frequent trips to help out on the pelican and osprey that were nearby. The two most interesting cases one bird died from electrocution and another from Aspergillosis.

1:00 – 2:00 PM: Lunch.

2:00 – 4:00 PM: Adaptive Anatomy and Physiology of Marine Mammals.

Presenter: Dr. Juli Goldstein, FAU/HBOI.

4:00 – 5:00 PM: Conservation of Highly Endangered Monk Seals.

Presenter: Dr. Alonso Aguirre, Wildlife Trust. New York, New York.

5:00 – 6:00 PM: Wildlife Trust and Other Efforts to Refine Conservation Research, Stewardship, and Education. Outreach and Educational Programs in Latin America.

Presenter: Dr. Aguirre.

6:00 – 7:00 PM: Dinner.

Evening: Once back in the room Vincent (my roommate) shaved his head and then tried to talk me into doing the same. I couldn’t do it but agreed to a trim and several of the girls took turns trimming my hair.

It was Gills birthday so most of our class went to the bar next door to the hotel to celebrate. It was a fun beach bar right on the water that had live music. Several of the days instructors joined us and we made a good night of it.

Thursday, July 15 2010

Still catching up: short summaries and old pictures

8:00 – 9:00 AM: Virology Update and Why RNA Viruses are so Often Involved in Emerging and Re-emerging Diseases.

Presenter: Dr. Daniel Martineau

9:00 – 11:00 AM: Disease Emergence in Wild Birds: A Focus on Waterfowl and Raptors.

Presenter: Dr. Milton Friend, US Geological Survey, Founder of National Wildlife Health Center, Madison, Wisconsin.

Friend founded the National Wildlife Health Center and is among the most prominent figures in the field.

11:00 AM – Noon: Avian Influenza - Overview of the Risks of a Serious Pandemic, Countermeasures, and Communications. Implications for Developed and Developing Countries.

Presenter: Dr. Justin Brown, Southeast Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia.

Noon – 1:00 PM: Lunch.

1:00 – 3:00 PM: Wildlife Conservation and Wildlife Health. Dr. Friend.

3:00 – 4:00 PM: Whooping Cranes – Endangered Species Introductions.

Presenter: Dr. Marilyn Spalding. College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida.

4:00 – 5:00 PM: Waterbird Diseases – Creating New Niches.

Presnter: Dr. Spalding.

5:00 – 6:00 PM: Dinner.

6:00 – 7:00 PM: Mercury in the Everglades. Dr. Spalding.

Evening: Along with 5 other students I helped Dr. Spalding with the necropsy of a Whooping Crane. Because it is an endangered species we had to be very thorough in taking tissue samples and attempting to determine the cause of death. In total the process took over two hours. Unfortunately, my camera ran out of batteries so no pictures…

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Still catching up! Old photos...

8:00 – 10:00 AM: Mutagenesis, Tissue Damage, and Other Mechanisms & Manifestations of Carcinogenesis in Wildlife.

Presenter: Dr. Daniel Martineau. Canadian Cooperative Wildlife Health Center (Quebecregion), Département de Pathologie et Microbiologie Vétérinaire, Faculté de Médecine Vétérinaire, Université de Montréal, St. Hyacinth, Quebec, Canada.

10:00 – 11:00 AM: Water Birds

Presenter Dr. Beasley.

Beasley filled in for a speaker who did not make and did his best to address comparative morphology, physiology, and life histories of water birds (gulls, terns, related birds, waterfowl, aquatic-feeding raptors, penguins, and other sea birds).

11:00 AM – Noon: Contaminants and Wild Birds, Part 1.

Presenter: Dr. Beasley

Noon – 1:00 PM: Lunch.

1:00 – 2:00 PM: Contaminants and Wild Birds, Part 2.

Presenter: Dr. Beasley

2:00 – 3:00 PM: Drug Discovery from Marine Organisms.

Presenter: Dr. Peter McCarthy, FAU/HBOI

3:00 – 4:30 PM: Group Project Time:

I met with my group refine specific plans to address our plan for the Niger Delta crisis relating to toxicologic and ecotoxicologic insults. I put together a powerpoint for our group while others did research and planned out what to say.

4:30 – 5:30 PM: Ten-Minute Student Presentations, Plus 5 Minutes Each for Discussion. Group 1 addressed beef production in Canada; Group 2 looked at metropolitan areas and their ecological footprint; Group 3 (my group) address examined the Niger Delta Oil Crisis; and Group 4 developed a program for the Earth to be proposed to a World Conference of National Political Leaders on Effective Methods to Prevent Ecotoxicologic Impacts through Prevention and Clean Up Efforts.

5:30 – 6:00 PM: Faculty and students provide feedback.

Everyone loved our slides…I guess my presentation making skills are useful even in conservation medicine!

6:00 – 7:00 PM: Dinner.

Evening: As usual some of us made our way down to the pool. While there I noticed a submarine in the parking lot and decided to check it out. Apparently, one of the hotel guests has a personal submarine. He even let me get inside and poke around. Once my curiosity was satisfied I went and jumped off the dock into the ocean with some of my fellow envirovets.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Using old photos and trying to catch up...

7:00 AM: Breakfast

8:00 – 10:00 AM: Introduction to Ecotoxicology.

Presenter: Dr. Beasley

10:00 – 11:00 AM: Cyanobacterial (Blue-Green Algal) Toxins

Presenter: Dr. Beasley

Beasly gave an overview of freshwater and brackish sources, principal effects of and countermeasures for animals exposed to cyclic peptide hepatotoxins (microcystins and nodularin). We also discussed neurotoxins, anatoxin-a, anatoxin-a(s), and saxitoxin in birds and mammals.

11:00 AM – Noon: Marine Phycotoxins

Presenter: Dr. Beasley

The focus of this lecture was on estuarine and marine sources, and principal effects of saxitoxins, domoic acid, and brevetoxins in birds and marine mammals.

Noon – 1:00 PM: Lunch.

1:00 – 2:00 PM: Background on the Endocrine System and Endocrine Disruptors.

Presenter: Dr. Heather Hamlin, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida.

2:00 – 3:00 PM: Case Studies of Endocrine Disruption in Fishes.

Presenter: Dr. Hamlin

3:00 – 5:00 PM: Endocrine Disruption in Alligators and other Vertebrates

Presenter: Dr. Louis Guillette, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida.

Evening: Worked on a group project, “Niger Delta Oil Crisis”, with my group members: Asabe, Colleen, Lia, Dempsy, and Albert. We chose to work pool side and go for a dip after we felt as though we had done enough work…

Monday, July 12, 2010

7:00 AM: Breakfast

8:00 – 11:30 AM: Drive to the Everglades

I rode in Amanda’s van and tried to sleep for as much of the 3.5-hour drive as possible. Some of our classmates left several hours earlier to visit a Seminole museum. We met up with them at the Billie Swamp Safari Park within the Seminole Indian Reservation.

12:00 PM: Lunch

Upon arriving at the park we had some bagged lunches waiting for us.

1:05 PM: Critter Show

Our first activity was watching a critter show featuring vultures, armadillo, opossum, ferrets, tarantulas, and a large alligator snapping turtle. The presenter was quite knowledgeable and did his best to impress our large group of veterinarians and veterinary students.

2:00 PM: Snake Show

We were ushered into a dark room with bleachers and a small stage. Over the course 45 minutes the showman brought out many snakes native to the area. These included a coral snake, king snake, and eastern diamondback rattlesnake.

2:50 PM: Swamp Buggy Tour

Our group loaded into a large “swamp buggy” for a tour of some of the park. It was a weird experience. In addition to some local wildlife, there were hundreds of feral pigs and cows. Additionally, they have brought in exotic species such as water buffalo, bison, and ostrich. It seemed like a disease outbreak waiting to happen…

4:30 PM: Airboat Ride

For our final activity of the day we loaded onto several of the iconic everglades airboats. While on the water we got to see wild alligators, turtles, and many species of birds.

5:30 PM – 8:30 PM: Ride Home

I was in and out of sleep for most of the ride home.

Evening:

After eating pizza as a group some of us went swimming and discussed how strange the day was. Many were disappointed by the days activities. Instead of visiting everglades national park, we spent most of our time at a roadside zoo, where it felt as though the animals were not well cared for. My previous memory of the area (with my Grandparents) was much more pleasant.

Sunday, July 11, 2010

7:00 AM: Breakfast

8:00 – 9:00 AM: Comparative Morphology of Amphibians.

Presenter: Dr. Allender

Allender led us through the integumentary, digestive, respiratory, circulatory, digestive, urinary, and reproductive adaptations unique to amphibians. He also discussed how these set the stage for infectious and toxicologic diseases.

9:00 – 10:30 AM: Amphibian Infectious Diseases and Anesthesia for Amphibians.

Presenter: Dr. Allender.

10:30 AM – Noon: Amphibian Declines and Eco-toxicology. Dr. Beasley.

Beasley, the founder of envirovet, discussed some of his past research on frogs in Illinois and the methods he used for his research.

Noon -- 1 PM: Lunch

1:00 – 2:00 PM: Comparative Morphology of Aquatic Reptiles.

Presenter: Dr. Allender.

Just as with the amphibians, Allender gave an overview of integumentary, digestive, respiratory, circulatory, digestive, urinary, and reproductive adaptations; and how these set the stage for infectious and toxicologic diseases.

2:00 – 3:00 PM: Diseases of Aquatic Reptiles - Turtles, Snakes, and Crocodilians.

Presenter: Dr. Allender.

3:00 – 6:00 PM: Dissection Lab:

Dr. Allender led us through a lab featuring frogs, salamanders, aquatic chelonians, aquatic snakes, and an alligator. We went through how to draw blood before conducting necropsies and examining the basic anatomy.

6:00 – 7:00 PM: Dinner

Evening:

Once back at the hotel a large group of us went to the pool. We followed this up with a continuation of the harry potter movie marathon on ABC family before going to bed.